Fading Man

So for a while there I was working on a new young adult novel called The Figment Tree. It's actually based on some characters I created when I was a child, though the storyline was significantly altered from my more simplistic childhood notions. It's a fun story about a sad young man living in a trailer park who befriends a nine-dimensional being. Yep, you read that right. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. It gets weirder.

Anyway, I think The Figment Tree has the potential to be a pretty good story, and there is certainly a compelling emotional subtext. However, after a stressful month, I was struggling to get back into writing it. Honestly, I was not feeling the tone. I needed to work on something that was more in line with my current mood.

So I decided to abandon The Figment Tree at around 24,000 words and start another novel that I've been thinking about writing for some time. It's called Fading Man, and it's actually based on a short story that I wrote back in the day.

You might remember that my novel Children of the Mechanism (which comes out very soon) is based on a short story I wrote in college called Stick Boys. Well, before I wrote Stick Boys, I wrote a short story called Fading Man. It was the very first short story I ever published, appearing in a long-defunct magazine called Starblade circa 1995.

Well, Fading Man the short story is now the inspiration for Fading Man the novel. I can't tell you much about it at this point, but I'm certainly digging the vibe a lot more. You've got to write what you're feeling, I guess. Anyway, here are some things I can tell you about the novel that you might find interesting.

It is set in the same post-apocalyptic world as Shadows of Tockland, though it is about completely different characters. No, Cakey will not be making an appearance, though if you've read Shadows of Tockland, you'll recognize some places and names. It is the story of a man with mysterious memories looking for a lost city. He is accompanied by a troubled woman named Eleanor, and lots of crazy things happen along the way.

So there you go. That's what I'm working on now. Even with all the SEO writing I'm doing these days, I should be able to hammer this one out because I'm really feeling it.

There you go.

I sleep now!